Chef Gaggan Anand and team onstage at Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2025.

Courtesy of 50 Best

Gaggan back on top at Asia's 50 Best Restaurants

25 Mar 2025

Journalist

Chef Gaggan Anand and team have returned to the pinnacle of Asian dining after topping Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025. See the full list

Gaggan Anand and team are celebrating a return to the top of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list after the chef’s eponymous Bangkok restaurant, Gaggan, topped Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna at a ceremony in Seoul.

Having gone on a four-year winning streak from 2015-18 with the original iteration of the restaurant, this was the first time the Indian chef was back at the top of the podium with his new location. There, Anand and team create an immersive and always entertaining dining experience for just a few lucky guests a day, with a series of innovative and thought-provoking dishes and even a spot of group karaoke.

“I think the year is wrong, it was 2015 when I first got this. When we started, it was not about me, it was about Asia. Everyone in this room is a winner,” said Anand, as he and his team collected their award on stage in the South Korean capital.

”When I was young, I never imagined that Asia could be a gastronomic hub and look where we are,” he continued.

Gaggan beat 2023 winner, Hong Kong’s The Chairman, into second place, while last year’s winner, Tokyo’s Sézanne, came fourth. Hong Kong’s Wing and Seoul’s own Mingles made up the top five.

A number of additional awards were announced both ahead of and during the ceremony, including, most poignantly, the Icon Award, which was given posthumously to Filipino chef Margarita Forés, who sadly passed away last month. The One to Watch Award went to Farmlore in Bengaluru, India, run by chef Johnson Ebenezer, a S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition mentor. Asia’s Best Female Chef was named as Chudaree ‘Tam’ Debhakam of Baan Tepa, Bangkok, while Vicky Cheng, of Wing, was named the Chef’s Choice.